


Moment of Vulnerability

by ZimVader0017



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, Natural Disasters, No Romance, Professor Membrane is a crazy bastard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 02:30:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6034648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZimVader0017/pseuds/ZimVader0017
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a massive earthquake hits their town leaving everything nearly destroyed and covered in darkness, two unlikely allies team up to get to the bottom of this and prevent an even bigger disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Disaster

Chapter 1

** Dib’s POV **

Dad has gotten over the whole ‘no perpetual energy for you’ faze, and has decided to forgive the people and try it again. This time he made a smaller machine; the first one was too big and took too much space. This new one would still be powerful, but small enough to fit under the city. Unlike the first time which Zim sabotaged, the initiation went on without trouble, Gaz and I stood next to Dad, and everyone was happy. Several days later, I started noticing some strange cracks on the pavement. The streets here have been always in precarious conditions, so I didn’t think too much of it. But, then, at skool, there would be barely noticeable quakes, which were waved off by the principal as side effects of the skool being such an old structure. I, at first, accepted that as true. But as the events continued, stronger and more frequently, I realized something very bad must be happening.

I consulted with Dad and told him my suspicion that it had to do with the machine he created. I thought that the energy waves it sent was messing with the Earth’s magnetic field, making cracks underground that created earthquakes. He, as always, laughed like a maniac and dismissed my concern off as a joke, saying how impossible it was something like that happening as it was one of his “marvelous” scientific creations. Giving up on him, I decided to tell Gaz. She couldn’t have cared less. Why, even after all the times she blew me off, I still didn’t expect that from her is anyone’s guess….. I couldn’t tell anyone at skool because they would probably ignore me and say I’m crazy like they do everyday. So I decided to keep my mouth shut and hope that the quakes wouldn’t get worse. Of course, I should have known better.

** Zim’s POV **

Ugh, another day spent on this horrible skool. These humans are so stupid! So, I didn’t know what a ‘stereo’ was. How could I? Such a primitive device. And they dared to laugh at me, the amazing ZIM!!! Oh, how I hate them…

Dib’s staring at me again, I should use that gesture I learned this morning *****. Haha, success! He’s completely shocked. Oh, no, he stood up and is coming this way.

“Zim, why did you flip me off? Do you even know what that means?”

“Well, I know it’s supposed to offend and it worked.”

“Ugh, whatever. Listen, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do those earthquakes we’ve been having seem strange to you?”

I remembered that the week before I had been working in my lab when a particularly strong shake struck. It nearly destroyed my testing capsules.

“Yes, they are happening more frequently than they should, at least according to my research. I have also found that they are getting stronger each time.”

When I looked up at Dib he had a panicked expression.

 “I knew it! These earthquakes are not normal! I think it’s that machine Dad made, but he refuses to listen to me.”

“But, that is usual of him, isn’t it? Never listening to you?” I asked.

His face fell and he looked away.

“Yeah, it is usual. I’m insane right?” He said bitterly.

I flashed him a smirk.

“Of course. Everyone says that. It must be true.”

** Author’s POV **

Dib glared at him and walked away. Zim’s smirk grew into a satisfied evil smile. It was always fun to mess with the Dib-human.

Dib thought about what Zim had said. Not the part where he said he was crazy, he chose to ignore that for the time being. The fact that even Zim found the earthquakes unusual worried him. If only he could have gotten more information from the irken, like how much more frequent were the vibrations from what was normal. He would have to find that out on his own.

Half an hour passed with Dib barely paying attention to his teacher. He was still thinking how to convince his father about the danger of the earthquakes and the possible cause of them, when they were suddenly shaken by the biggest one yet.

The teacher stopped mid-sentence, his eyes showing he was starting to panic. Even in his fear, he managed to keep calm enough to follow the standard procedure in case of emergency.

When the shaking stopped, he ordered everyone to calmly walk towards the hall in an orderly fashion. The students followed his orders until a strong aftershock hit. After that, there was no stopping the unanimous panic attack that made everyone start running for the nearest exit.

**Zim’s POV**  
  
As the ground rumbled again, mass panic surfaced when the sound of the building's walls about to collapse was heard. Humans started running towards the nearest exist they could find. As small as I am, I managed to sidestep a couple of kids, but suddenly a rather large boy came running (which quite impressed me to see such a large meat sack being able to move that quickly), and in the process pushing me against a locker. The impact jammed my PAK, I was sure it had gotten dented somewhere, I couldn't activate my arachnopeds. While I was still checking my PAK, it suddenly started crackling with electricity, electrifying me quite painfully. Since I was in shock, I didn't notice the wall in front of me caving in until it was too late.  
  
**Dib’s POV**  
  
I managed to see Gaz reach an exit, which relieved me, she wasn't in any danger of being crushed. The halls were congested with people trying to get out of the building; I could barely move an inch. Suddenly, a large cloud of dust came from the other end of the hall, meaning that a wall had just collapsed. People started panicking even more. Knowing that a collapsed wall was surely a good exit, plus it was near me, I turned around and headed toward the origin of the dust cloud. When I got there, the place looked like a mess and in front of me, like I had suspected, was a large hole where the wall had once stood. While I was making my way towards it, I heard a pained moan coming from underneath the rubble. I moved some of the larger pieces aside to find Zim with scratches in his arms and without his disguise. It must have fallen off when the wall fell on him. He noticed I was there and looked at me with his huge eyes, pleading me to help him. A part of my mind was yelling at me to leave him, he was a danger to mankind, but another part took pity on how vulnerable and hurt he looked. With a huff, I finally decided, and started getting to work removing the rest of the rubble that was trapping him.

**_o~o~o~o~o~o_ **

**_* The story behind this is that on his way to school, Zim (as always)_** **_wasn't looking where he was going and he almost got run over by a car. The guy at the wheel used the "gesture" and while Zim didn't exactly know what it meant, the man's enraged face clued him in that it was supposed to be offensive XD_ **


	2. Mercy

**Zim's POV**

In a moment of small panic, I thought the human would leave me until I felt the weight of the bricks being lifted off me. I still couldn't activate my PAK, and I was scared that meddling too much with it would cause it to electrify me again. When all of the bricks were off me, I tried getting up, but the shock I had received earlier from my PAK had made my body unresponsive.

"Uh. Hold on, I'll help you up."

Dib awkwardly took hold of me and pulled me up. However, he realized the problem when it became apparent that my legs wouldn't hold me up.

"You have to be kidding me....Um, Zim, please don't try to claw my face off."

Before I could ask him what he meant by that, I felt myself being lifted up into his arms. It felt really uncomfortable, I am not used to be carried this way, and the fact that I couldn't do anything about it made it worse.

"Wow, you're actually lighter than I thought! Let's get out of here before the rest of the structure collapses."

He climbed over the broken wall and managed to get outside. Luckily for me, we didn't run into any searching human.

"Hey, why didn't you use your PAK to get out, Zim? I thought your 'almighty and powerful' irken technology was indestructible."

I hissed at him and tried to glare, but because of the pain I was in, the glare ended up looking more like a grimace.

"You're lucky I can't move right now, that face clawing would have happened right now. If you must know, one of your stupid pig smelling comrades slammed me into a locker and damaged my PAK. I can't open it to use any tools, it electrocutes me every time I try. At least the damage isn't as bad, since it's still keeping me alive."

"Oh, yeah, you can die without it."

I hissed at him again, and he returned the glare I had given him earlier, except his was more effective.

"Oh, come on! I pulled you out of the rubble when I could have left you there! I'm not going to do anything to your PAK! I just remembered suddenly! A little trust, please?"

"Trust? You think I would trust you?! The one creature that has been destroying my plans of taking over this pitiful planet, and who has been trying to get me killed on an autopsy table ever since I got here?! How do I know that you didn't pull me out just so that you can take me to that Slimy Eyelash group of yours while I'm vulnerable?!"

At one point during my ranting we had reached a deserted market. He placed me down near the entrance and started looking for food items. He threw some cans inside his backpack in frustration, then looked at me.

"First off, it's Swollen Eyeball. Second, yes, I get it. To be honest, if the situation was reversed, I would be thinking exactly the same things as you. There would be one huge difference, though. **You** would have probably left me to die. Unlike you, I actually have a conscience. The only reason I threatened you with autopsy tables is because you were threatening my planet and that kept you from trying too hard, but believe me, if I really did take you to the group, you would have preferred to have been killed."

His words scared me a bit, but I covered it by scoffing in disbelief. Dib sighed in irritation, and continued searching for other useful items. He was clearly ignoring me at that point, and I was put off by it since I've always hated been ignored, but I let him.

I knew that neither one of us liked it, but there was no other way. We were in this together now, and we had to make the best of it. I couldn't get in contact with GIR in this state, so the human was the only way I could get to my base and fix my PAK. I still couldn't understand why he felt the need to help me and make me trust him, but he's useful. For now.

**Dib's** **POV** ****

I can't believe I'm helping him. Me and my stupid morals. He's right, humans are pathetic! I hate to admit it, but he has a point. He's practically defenseless right now, I could just hand him over. The thing is, I wasn't lying about him wishing he was dead.

When I spoke about him to Agent Darkbootie, he told me that if Zim was indeed captured, they would try to keep him alive as long as possible by any means necessary. He wouldn't tell me what kind of experiments they would be doing, saying that a young boy shouldn't know these things, but I can assume that they are not pretty.

Besides, I need him with me right now. He's the only one with the technology advanced enough to overpower my father's machine. I know he's using me, I should return the favor.

I'm just glad that I got to these supplies before anyone else. Zim doesn't know much about humans, but if things continue as they are, he will soon learn how scary we can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took the longest time ever, wow. I'm unhappy, it's so short! Also, is it just me or did my writing style change?
> 
> Anyway, I don't know how long this will be, or when the next chapter will be out as I'm trying to update as many of my stories as I can during the summer, but I'm happy that I finally got a clear idea as to where to go with this plot. I was having problems because I already know what is going to happen once they get to the base, I just didn't know how they were going to get there, and I finally thought up of something. If you have ideas as to what they could face while they travel to the base (remembering that it's a pandemonium right now, people are panicking, and buildings are crashing down), then leave a comment or send me an inbox.  
> Cheers! ♥


	3. Chapter 03

Author’s POV

"Why am I even doing this?"

Dib questioned himself for the hundredth time. He decided that his compassion was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it fueled his determination to save mankind no matter how badly mankind treated him. A curse because it was the reason he was currently carrying a wounded irken on his back. After he managed to take as much supplies as he could carry (he wished he could take more, but knew not to be selfish in situations as these), he took off his trench coat and placed his backpack under it. The reason was that it would serve as a buffer between his body and the alien’s, the PAK randomly sending off sparks of electricity whenever Zim attempted something it didn’t like. It was moments like these where he was very grateful that his father had made all the clothes his children used to be fire, electricity and freezing proof. He didn’t understand his father’s reasoning at the time, wondering what the heck he thought they were doing in his absence to inspire him to make those super resistant clothes, but he was currently appreciating the thought. He kept himself protected whenever the PAK short circuited. The same could not be said of Zim, who was the subject of much pain, the PAK being his life source. On occasion he would feel the small alien spasm against his back as his PAK sent painful shocks through his body. He would think briefly of simply telling Zim to stop trying to open his PAK, but the first time he attempted this, all he got was angry swatting that reminded him of a cat, so he decided to just let the irken figure out that it wasn't working by himself.

Besides, he had bigger problems, like how to get to Zim's base when half the ground was full of large craters. Secondly, he was aware that he had to stay vigilant, people could try and take advantage that he was a young boy and attack him for his supplies.

Speaking of which, a sudden crash to his right made him seek refuge behind large crates spilled over from an overturned fruit truck. Putting his hand over Zim’s mouth after he let out an undignified shriek at the movement as he had been slumbering away moments before, Dib peered around a corner to see who was coming their way.

A group of four teenagers, two burly looking guys that had probably been pumping up steroids without their coach's knowledge and their stereotypical looking bimbo girlfriends, seemed to be scouting for supplies, maybe a bit of food if the products in the crates were any good at this point. He should check himself, he remembered in the back of his mind that Zim had no problems with very sweet fruits, he should gather some for the alien to eat in case this took longer than planned.

Nevermind that, focus!

Okay, they seem to be going farther away. Maybe if he sneaked past them for a bit, they won't notice. The irken was suspiciously quiet behind him, now that he thought about it.

Dib chanced a quick glance to the alien on his back, finding a look of concentration on Zim’s face he had never seen before.

“What are you thinking about?”

That seemed to break Zim out of whatever weird internal monologue he was having, and he blinked at Dib while he ran the nearly missed question across his mind again.

“You are trying to sneak away from those big humans, yes? Why is that, wouldn't you want to stay near as many humans as possible? My research showed that you inferior creatures seemed to crave each other's contact, especially in situations of great peril.”

Dib mulled that over while he tried to figure out another way to check the fruit without being noticed. All those times of trying to sneak into Zim’s base have proved useful.

“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly what you would call ‘social’. Besides that, people usually avoid me because I'm the town’s resident crazy guy. I’ve gotten used to being alone most of the time. Another reason there’s no way I’m getting near those guys is because they might want to attack us and steal our supplies. You can’t use your PAK for defense because it’s damaged, right? It’s better to just avoid any confrontations.”

Zim once again fell silent, something about what Dib had said struck a chord with him. Dib decided to ignore the silent irken for the time being seeing as he wasn’t going to get a reply soon. The big burly guys managed to take all of the undamaged crates, leaving nothing for anybody else. Selfish bastards.

With nothing more to do there, he decided to continue on towards the direction of Zim’s base, subconsciously bracing himself for the destruction they might find along the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Not my first IZ fanfic, I've actually been writing it for a couple of years. With that said, the reason it's not finished yet is because I kinda left the IZ fandom and forgot about this story until today that I saw it in my pendrive. Since I don't like leaving things unfinished, I decided to give it a go again and finish it.  
> Enjoy and thank you for reading! :)


End file.
